1st Lt. Zerbin Singleton, the final Marine aviator to be trained to fly the CH-46 helicopter.
— Charlie Neuman

Zerbin Singleton can now add one more accomplishment to his remarkable life story.

Singleton, 27, overcame incredible odds and family hardships to become a college football player at the U.S. Naval Academy, even being profiled for his perseverance in Sports Illustrated. Now, the Marine Corps 1st lieutenant can say he is a Battle Phrog pilot.

And not just any Battle Phrog pilot. The last Battle Phrog pilot.

On Wednesday, Singleton became the final person to qualify to fly a CH-46 helicopter, called the Phrog for its resemblance to a frog. The historic aircraft, which has served in the military for 48 years and has participated in every conflict dating back to Vietnam, is being phased out, so no more pilots will be trained to fly them.

Singleton passed his final test as 12 of the Phrog helicopters with Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 “flew the barn,” or flew in formation, at Camp Pendleton.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” Singleton said. “I just know I didn’t get here by myself. I know I’m standing on the shoulders of the giants of the Marines and pilots who came before me and flew the 46, worked on it and made it the aircraft it is today.”

The CH-46 Phrogs are being replaced by MV-22 Ospreys, the tilt-rotor aircraft that can serve as both a conventional helicopter and a turboprop airplane.

There are about 100 CH-46s remaining in operation in the country, said Marine Corps spokesman Tyler Balzer. The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing has three CH-46 squadrons remaining, he said. Five squadrons have been transitioned to MV-22s. On the East Coast, all CH-46 squadrons have been transitioned to MV-22 Ospreys.

Almost lost among the pomp and circumstance of the final Battle Phrog pilot getting his patch was the man himself, and all he has overcome to make it.

Singleton, an aspiring astronaut, was born to a drug-addicted mother in Anchorage, Alaska, and forced to leave home and move to Georgia after she was jailed. In Georgia, he became a star football player, state champion wrestler and class valedictorian.

Slated to attend the Naval Academy, Singleton broke his collarbone seven days before his high school graduation in a head-on traffic collision with a drunken driver. So he deferred his entry for a year and attended Georgia Tech instead.

After he finally arrived in Annapolis, his father committed suicide. Not deterred, Singleton pressed forward, eventually started on the football team and scored a touchdown in the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl. In 2007, won two prestigious awards, one that recognize college football’s most inspirational player and the other that recognizes its most courageous player.

Through all that, Singleton never gave up on a dream he said he’s had since age 7: To be a pilot.

“I know I can accomplish anything I put my mind to,” Singleton said. “Those experiences create the person you are today. They should make you better, whether they are good or bad experiences.”

The fact that Singleton was selected as the CH-46s final pilot was merely coincidence, said Maj. Thomas Moore II, who led Wednesday’s exercise. However, Moore said, there wasn’t anyone more appropriate for the occasion.

“He’s pulled himself up from some really bad conditions,” Moore said. “For it to be him, I don’t think you could ask for a better individual.”